Senior Test Engineer

About Tiberius Aerospace Tiberius Aerospace is a cutting-edge Aerospace and Defense company committed to delivering innovative, secure, and compliant solutions for our customers. We specialize in mission-critical technology services for government and private sector customers, ensuring excellence in aerospace systems design, performance, and compliance. To serve our nations with Strength, Honor, and Purpose - forging the systems that defend freedom and shape the future of defense.     Location Orange County, California Employment Type Full-time Department Engineering Reporting to Senior Director  Compensation Salary target $125K to $175K, commensurate with experience, plus equity Eligibility U.S. citizenship required; must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance   Tiberius is seeking an experienced Senior Test Engineer to lead the planning, execution, and improvement of physical testing across advanced aerospace and defense systems. This is a hands-on engineering test role focused on electrical systems, mechanical systems, electromechanical assemblies, integrated aerospace hardware, and mission-critical components. The Senior Test Engineer will own test planning, test setup, instrumentation, execution, data capture, failure analysis, and reporting. The ideal candidate will come from an Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, robotics, propulsion, defense, automotive, energy, or complex hardware background. They will have experience testing real physical systems, not just writing software test scripts. This role is best suited to someone who is comfortable around hardware, understands how complex systems fail, can build disciplined test plans, and can work directly with engineering teams to improve reliability, performance, and readiness

What You’ll Do

• Develop and execute test plans for complex electrical, mechanical, and integrated aerospace systems.
• Own the full test lifecycle, including planning, setup, execution, data collection, analysis, reporting, and corrective action.
• Design and support test setups, fixtures, instrumentation plans, and data acquisition approaches.
• Perform functional, environmental, structural, vibration, thermal, electrical, endurance, qualification, and system-level testing where applicable.
• Support integration testing across mechanical, electrical, aerospace, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams.
• Identify, document, and troubleshoot hardware issues, performance gaps, and failure modes.
• Work with design engineering teams to understand requirements and define practical verification methods.
• Support test readiness reviews, safety reviews, range testing, and formal verification activities.
• Analyse test data and provide clear technical recommendations to engineering and leadership.
• Maintain disciplined documentation of test procedures, results, anomalies, corrective actions, and lessons learned.
• Improve test processes, test coverage, and engineering quality standards as the company scales.
• Support fast-moving program milestones while maintaining technical rigour and safety standards.

Technical & Engineering Test Responsibilities

• Develop test procedures for hardware, electromechanical systems, mechanical assemblies, electrical systems, and integrated aerospace platforms.
• Define instrumentation requirements, measurement methods, sensor placement, and data collection plans.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop, system integration, and field testing where applicable.
• Troubleshoot electrical, mechanical, structural, thermal, and integration issues during test campaigns.
• Conduct root cause analysis and support corrective action planning.
• Validate system performance against engineering requirements, operating conditions, and mission needs.
• Support reliability testing, qualification testing, acceptance testing, and failure investigations.
• Work with design engineering to improve testability, reliability, maintainability, and manufacturability.
• Prepare and lead test readiness activities, including test plans, risk assessments, equipment readiness, safety considerations, and execution procedures.
• Ensure test activity is conducted safely, accurately, and in line with program, quality, and compliance requirements.

Operational & Engineering Support

• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program teams to define verification and validation strategies.
• Support key program milestones through test planning, execution, and reporting.
• Provide technical feedback to improve hardware design, system performance, and reliability.
• Help develop quality standards and best practices for physical test activity.
• Support documentation and reporting required for internal, customer, regulatory, or compliance purposes.
• Participate in cross-functional design reviews, engineering reviews, test reviews, and failure investigations.
• Take ownership of additional engineering quality and test initiatives as the company scales.

What You’ll Bring

• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience in test engineering, hardware validation, systems test, product validation, qualification testing, or engineering verification.
• Hands-on experience testing complex physical systems, electrical systems, mechanical assemblies, hardware, or integrated platforms.
• Strong understanding of test planning, test procedures, instrumentation, data capture, and test reporting.
• Experience supporting test readiness reviews, safety reviews, formal verification events, or qualification campaigns.
• Ability to analyse complex technical systems and identify likely failure modes.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across hardware, systems, electrical, or mechanical domains.
• Ability to work with engineers across multiple disciplines to identify issues and drive practical solutions.
• Excellent documentation, communication, and technical reporting skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced startup or high-growth engineering environment.
• Strong ownership mindset and disciplined approach to quality, reliability, and safety.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, automotive, energy, advanced manufacturing, industrial hardware, or mission-critical systems.
• Experience with environmental testing, vibration testing, thermal testing, structural testing, endurance testing, electrical systems testing, or qualification testing.
• Experience with hardware-software integration from a systems or hardware test perspective.
• Experience using test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, DAQ systems, sensors, load cells, pressure transducers, thermal chambers, vibration tables, power supplies, or similar.
• Experience supporting range safety, field testing, flight testing, ground testing, or test safety planning.
• Familiarity with requirements verification, qualification testing, acceptance testing, or compliance-driven test environments.
• Experience supporting root cause analysis, failure review boards, corrective action processes, or non-conformance investigations.
• Basic scripting or data analysis capability, such as Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or similar, is a plus, but this is not a software test role.

What We’re Looking For

• A hands-on test engineer who is comfortable working directly with hardware.
• Someone who understands how physical systems fail and how to test them properly.
• A disciplined engineer who can build clear test plans, execute safely, and document results accurately.
• Strong technical judgement and the ability to separate symptoms from root cause.
• A proactive problem-solver who can identify risk before it becomes a program issue.
• Someone who can work across electrical, mechanical, systems, manufacturing, and quality teams.
• A high-ownership operator who can bring structure to test activity in a fast-moving aerospace and defense environment.

Growth Opportunity

This role provides the opportunity to help shape the test and validation function at a rapidly growing aerospace and defense company.

The Senior Test Engineer will work closely with engineering leadership and play a critical role in ensuring Tiberius Aerospace’s systems are reliable, safe, testable, and ready for mission-critical deployment. As the company scales, this person will help build the standards, processes, and test infrastructure needed to support increasingly complex hardware programs.

Equal Opportunity Statement Tiberius Aerospace Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Company maintains policies and practices designed to prevent discrimination or harassment against any qualified applicant or employee to the extent prohibited by federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law is prohibited. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or need an alternative method for applying, you may contact jpetrina@tiberius.com for assistance. Tiberius Aerospace Inc. participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your I-9 Form information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.     Tiberius Aerospace Inc. is an Equal Opportunity employer. The Company maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent discrimination or harassment against any qualified applicant or employee to the extent prohibited by federal, state and local laws and regulations. By way of example, discrimination on the basis of race (actual or perceived), ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law is prohibited. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or need an alternative method for applying, you may contact jpetrina@tiberius.com for assistance. Tiberius Aerospace Inc. participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your I-9 Form information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.